Yahoo! confirms WNY site - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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Yahoo!, Tuesday morning, confirmed it will be buildingthe 190,000-square-footr center that could employ, 125 people. Yahoo! has peggedf a 30-acre site in the park for the complex. Yahoo!’s decision is considered a major especially against a backdrop of a weakenedc economy where unemployment has increasec in past year in Erie Countyto 8.1 percen from 5.5 percent and in Niagara Count y to 9.3 percent from 6.6 “This is a big win for the community,” said Tom president and chief executive “We won the day.” Yahoo! was being courted by several statesd including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois for the All offered a handsome array of incentives.
“When a high tech company like Yahoo! picksw a community like WesternNew York, it’x like a lighthouse,” said Sen. Charleas Schumer, New York’s senior senator, who played a key role in Lockporyt landing thedata center. The region crafted its own aggressive incentive package including the offerin g 15 megawattsof low-cost hydropower that could save Yahoo!! an estimated $100 million over a 15-year also offered job training grants and othefr incentives. High level pitches also came from Gov. Davidc Paterson and Schumer. Schumer made persona l calls to Yahoo! CEO Carolp Bartz to push the region.
Kucharsk said it also helped that the region offeredxa half-dozen sites and not just a singularr location. It also helped that a friendship quicklhy developed betweenthe Yahoo! site selection team and the locapl economic development community. “We developed a nice relationshilp with them and that helped makethis happen,” Kucharsk said. “They were impressed that every timethey called, we coulxd assemble our team on a very shor t notice and give them the answers they Construction on the data center will begin in said David Dibble, Yahoo! senior vice The center will be open by May. Kucharski said therd is a myriad positives that will comefrom Yahoo!’ decision.
The BNE will use it in its outreach to other companies itis courting, he “It confirms our ability to attract high tech and high profilw companies,” Kucharski said. “To get a name company like Yahoo ! says a lot to the rest of the industriewsout there.” Yahoo! joins the ranks of , that have eithet opened or expanded back office operation in the region in recent years. “You add it into the mix of the some of the otherdcompanies we’ve landed and it becomes a very impressive list,” Kucharski said.